Cave Story 3D Announced

NIS America will be publishing the Pixel and Nicalis-developed 3DS game. UPDATED with video.

Cave Story, the critically-acclaimed indie title, will be coming to Nintendo 3DS, NIS America announced at a press event today. Cave Story, a Metroidvania-style game, was originally developed in 2004 by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya as freeware for the PC and received a large cult following. Nicalis remade and published the game on WiiWare and DSiWare last year.

The game, though based on the original sprite-based version, uses fully rendered 3D models, including stereoscopic effects. Beautifully painted concept art versions of the original levels have been converted into 2.5D, and linear corridors are mapped onto curves.

NISA hinted at the game earlier in the week in a picture of their mascot Prinny (a penguin-like race from their Disgaea series of games) sporting signature garb and the Polar Star gun from Cave Story's main character, Quote.

Cave Story 3D is expected to release this summer. Check the gallery for concept art.

We had a chance to chat with Daisuke Amaya and Nicalis at the event, so stay tuned for more information, as well as an interview!

NIS America Teams up with Nicalis to Bring Cave Story 3D!

Santa Ana, CA – NIS America announced today that they are working together with Nicalis, Inc. to develop an all new action game, Cave Story 3D for the Nintendo 3DS™.

"I feel great possibilities working with Nicalis. They’re both skilled and dedicated with making no compromises. I think fans of the original Cave Story will be pleased with this latest incarnation." said NIS America Producer Jack Niida. ”Also through this partnership, we would like to bring new life to the legendary game and make it accessible to a new range of audiences."

Since its foundation in 2003, NIS America has operated under the philosophy of "entertainment for all," and brought games that satisfy its many customers. NIS America introduced its first video game Phantom Brave in 2004, and since then have been constantly releasing multiple video games and anime. Now the company plans to introduce its first 3D title in 2011.

About Cave Story 3DCave Story 3D is a side scrolling action adventure game inspired by the fan-favorite 2D original. Now in a full 3D world, Cave Story takes the proven 2D action, exploration into stereoscopic awesomeness. You wake up in a cave with no idea who you are or where you came from, but you know you must help a cute race of rabbit-like creatures beat the crap out of some crusty old doctor.

As you advance through the game, you’ll learn the origin of the Mimiga world and even your own. Like the critically acclaimed Pixel masterpiece, Cave Story 3D is a combination of high-speed shooting action scenes with heavy emphasis on platforming, exploration, light puzzle solving as well as a deep storyline.

Talkback

I've realized that Cave Story is a game that I'm going to replay for a long time. I have it for the Wii and DSi and I like them both. It would be cool if they allowed for data to be shared between the systems. I'm happy to play any version. The concept art looks great, I'm excited for this!

Just because some people use it doesn't make it an actual name for a subgenre, just like how “party” is not a genre. At the least, as with any comparison, it's always a good idea to pair it with the real genre name/description (example: side-scrolling exploration with light RPG elements, like Metriodvania). But that's just my view, of course.

Quote from: NWR_Neal

How else would you describe the genre and have it be easier to say/write than Metroidvania?

Writing isn't about being easy, it is about being clear. That's part of why I don't like abbreviations in most cases, but I'm probably the only one.

Metroid and Castlevania both have a lot of different elements, so if I hadn't already played Cave Story, I wouldn't know which ones it contains. I actually think it's very much like Metroid and practically nothing like Castlevania.

This is proably not the right thread to discuss this, and I don't want to be nit picky but I'm going to have to agree with Mop It Up here. I know it sounds absurd but some people may not have played either of those games so metroidvania doesn't really mean much.

I for instance I tried, but could never get into either of those games (perhaps too moody for my taste). While in theory I would like the game play, tainting it with metroid or castlevainia would kind of turn me off to it, so perhaps being more descriptive on what the game is about could help, but this is not a review column so I guess I should even worry about it.

As an ardent worshipper of the side-scrolling action/adventure sub-genre (known in some informal circles as "Metroidvania", since Metroid and Castlevania pioneered that gameplay style), I boldly proclaim "DO WANT!"